Best Buy Being Bold with Diablo 3 Launch Date?

Site visitor Jan sent over a pic of an alleged Best Buy poster announcing the launch date of 1st February for Diablo 3. There is no proof that the poster is legit but if you look at the counter it counts down to 25 days from now.

The picture itself looks suspicious and there may be some Photoshop skills at work. The date on the poster is obviously missing due to what could be convenient glare, and either Best Buy can’t spell February, or the artists needs some spelling lessons.

If any of you guys spot anything like this while out and about, do send over your pics and let us know where you spotted it. The hunt is on!

Update: Bashiok has responded with a Tweet concerning the advert which pretty much sums up our thoughts on them having some advance heads-up on a release date…

The word is lol.

Looks like Best Buy are wanting to pull in gamers at any opportunity. Best Buy have since removed the sign from the front of their store according to Patrickowen.

ok after calling the best buy in Rochester, Minnesota where this picture was taken from they have comfermed that that poster is there and have since been taken down at the request of corperate. I think blizzard will have a anouncement on this issue monday.

obvious fake. again, blizzard dosent just tell retailers when diablo3 (or any other game) will be released. they keep everyone equally in the dark. now that being said heres the real question: do you think best buy would put up a poster with a countdown for a game with no release date and just a guess (maby) but would they also spell February wrong on it? i will put aside the glare next to the word February just because of the countdown though.

According to a German Diablo 3 Site that picture is real. With the geotagging information they found out, that the picture was taken in the BestBuy at Rochester. They called the store and the employer told them, that the poster is really standing in their store. They got the date from their distributor but he could not tell if this is the official release date.

The location is Best Buy Rochester (MN), and the midnight sales plus February 1st, 2012 have both been confirmed (by the shop). We also just got a 2nd confirmation of this poster standing at Best Buy in Toledo (OH).

There is just absolutely no way this game is coming out in one month. Unless the Diablo 3 team is insane and does not sleep for the next 25 days its just not happening. Beta is still in a patching phase and doesn’t look to be over any time soon, Blizz still doesn’t seem to have a confident and firm standing with the runestone system, I can’t even imagine how much more polishing and UI changes and what not there are AND taking care of boxing the game, preparing the collector’s edition and distribution with the FINAL package just doesn’t seem realistic by February 1st.

This is either fake or Best Buy trying to snag pre-order cash from its customers, the game is coming in March.

It’s fake. Sheesh. Of course the geotag on the photo is correct. Why not? That says nothing about it not being photoshopped! Look at the perspective on the ‘release date’. This is done by an amateur and still we’re all getting all worked up about it. (not too mention 20 spelling mistakes in one shot)

Indeed, it is fake. For all those who don’t think it is, look closely at the box art in the middle. Diablo is looking straight on towards the camera instead of at an angle like the rest of the poster (amusing how he bothered to do that with the words but not the blatant copied and pasted box art)… Obviously this is just a poorly photoshopped picture of a real poster in a Best Buy…

The meta data of the photo identified the location as Rochester (Michigan). Our forum reader (“fs”) called the shop, and the midnight sales as well as the date February 1, 2012 have both been confirmed.

If that is true and the poster is real then it was very crappily made, and it still doesn’t really matter because it’s obvious that they pulled that date out of their asses and I’m sure they’ll be replacing that poster either when Blizzard finally gives out the real release date or when February 1st rolls around with no official word yet…

There is the other possibility that the photo was actually taken in a best buy and shopped at home. And forum reader who says it was confirmed is mistaken. The only record we have is the shot. I doubt our caller recorded the conversation. The perspective on the art and title is so obviously off (thus crooked if viewed head on) that taken with the amateur spelling errors make it completely unbelievable to me.

Why would you have an adjustable digital clock and a headline with a fixed date on one poster – makes non sense, hm? The yellow Best Buy banner and that silver headline have been added later by the Michigan shop to make it look more awesome. That explains the typo with “Feburary”. These guys in Michigan got the promotional material from Blizzard this weekend, because the launch is close (likely February). Then they looked up the date in their catalogue (Feb 1, 2012) and put that as additional headline onto the standard poster – that’s all. They may have to change their headline, though, if it turns out to be the wrong date. 😉

The poster is real, get over it. Of course there’s no way of knowing if the release date is real yet. But bashiok’s comment means nothing either way. Why didnt he just outright deny it like they have done in the past? Of course this is highly unlikely but whatever, i can wait a little longer if it’s untrue.

It looks like the yellow “pre-order” strip and the silver strip below with the misspelled word are stickers that were added on later by the BB folks. I HIGHLY doubt some random Best Buy went to the trouble of making up a poster and a clock on their own. I think it IS from Blizz, but the Feb. 1st date is wrong and was picked by store employees who made the mistake of putting it out early. This + the Manual getting printed points to Blizzard prepping to ship to stores. This would put an announcement likely within the next 2 weeks.

U mad scorch? Or maybe you just have amnesia? “Indeed, it is fake. For all those who don’t think it is, look closely at the box art in the middle. Diablo is looking straight on towards the camera instead of at an angle like the rest of the poster (amusing how he bothered to do that with the words but not the blatant copied and pasted box art)… Obviously this is just a poorly photoshopped picture of a real poster in a Best Buy…” Dont let your extreme cynicism cloud your judgment. Try believing in something for once, or at least gather all the facts before making a definitive statement, which YOU DID! :^D

P.S. And since when does a user need to be registered to reveal the fallacy of your argument? Do registered users have a less fully-developed frontal cortex or something? Anyway, I wouldnt have called you out if you hadnt stated your opinion in such a self-assured and arrogant way. It’s one of my pet peeves. Anyway, im done. No hard feelings, proceed with the speculations

I work at BBY in MI, not the store in question but in the same district. Will call their gaming department tomorrow and seek further info, but the word from my gaming department is they’ve heard nothing of this. As there is no chance of promo material being released to their store and not ours, and as it is a blatant violation of policy to post ANYTHING in the store not released by corporate, I doubt the authenticity of this poster. A great deal. Will post tomorrow once I’ve spoken with them.

^ this guy wins if not liar or troll.. but yah feb 1st fake. Feburary* No retailer would seriously have spelling mistakes on something they trying to make money off, even stupid ass best buy LOL. as bashiok said.

BTW, #2 (#1 if you discount the guy who abandoned his guns at the drop of a “confirmation”:

This is photoshopped. Poorly. The entire image is blurry, but the seconds on the “countdown clock” (an item BBY would never use) is perfectly clear? The “Midnight release” AND “preorder today” are at different focus levels than the rest of the image, and off alignment from the poster in general? Feburary? 12:01am? (Midnight releases become available for sale 12:00am). Most pressingly, when have you seen an effing RED AND WHITE “SALE” sign in a BBY? For X% to X% off products? And do those “connections” to said red and white sale sign look real to you, in full size? Do you notice how the glare doesn’t impact the words “midnight opening” at all? Have ANY OF YOU LOOKED AT THIS SIGN?

The word on the street SHOULD be lol. On more than one level. Still, will post more tomorrow once speaking with them has occurred.

I don’t think anyone cares if some random kid on the internet tells them it’s real when it obviously isn’t. I know it might be hard for you to spot the errors in the photo, but for some of us it really isn’t that hard. 🙂

Let me help you a little bit though. Take a look at the “MIDNIGHT OPENING” text which:

* Doesn’t line up with the rest of the poster. * Doesn’t line up with the yellow area on the poster at the top. * Isn’t as blurry as the rest of the image in the same area.

It has been inserted into the image. 🙄 I’m so sorry if your life is ruined now but YOU need to get over it.

Add to this the fact that the WoW subs should now be down to 8-9 mio. Mike Morhaime is for sure facing his worst investors conference call ever in February, and if he hasn’t a D3 release date (or even better an already released D3) by that time, it won’t be without (severe) consequences.

off topic: Thrall used to be coolest character in Warcraft, now he is crappiest. No decent character is prefect and without a single flaw however Blizzard sure seems intent to make Thrall Mother Theresa of WoW.

1) There is no active sku for this product (Diablo III, of course), as there is no realistic expectation that the product will be available in stores in the near future (no release date…) 2) The new releases calendar for games coming out (the latest date of which I saw on there was in june) does not have Diablo III on it. It’s not just that it isn’t on Feb 1st, it’s that it isn’t Present (no release date….) 3) The sign in question is not available for ordering through our signage ordering system (as it does not exist).

I did figure out that I’m partly an idiot, though, as talks with the gaming staff clarified some of the photoshopper’s source material. There IS a red and white sign for 20 to 25% off cell phone accessories currently on a tripod in our store (and probably theirs as well), the same sign you see sitting below said tripod, which btw makes a lot more sense to be located in the store’s cell phone area than a midnight release poster for a gaming product…. Also, the countdown clock was used during the \gears\ promo, and 12:01am is the listed time for midnight releases. So, the photoshop job isn’t nearly as recklessly terrible as I had originally thought, but I stick by my guns in saying there is no way that photo is legit, as there is no way that sign exists. They simply wouldn’t create signage for the midnight release of a product that does not have a release date (or active sku), and if such signage existed, it would be available for ordering, which it is not. I’ll be swinging in to that store tomorrow to talk with their gaming supervisor, though, just to put this to rest once and for all.

For those who are not aware, Best Buy.com always has their best guess at a release date on there, which would have been updated last when they said they were shooting for a Q1 2012 release. As they have not released further info, the placeholder date would not have been updated. It’s not normally an issue, but when someone gets the bright idea to photoshop a fake sign making the guesstimated release date seem like a hard fact….

Sorry to keep on this. I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway, and I’ll give it a rest after this-

1) If we have “confirmations” from people who have been in the store, why oh why when no one lacks a cell phone (with a camera) nowadays did no one else take and upload a photo of this sign? Perhaps at a different angle, and avoiding the glare? That would put the issue to rest, so why did no one do so?

2) If you call a store, and ask them what the release date is, and they look on their website and see it’s listed as February 1st, and they have no prior knowledge of the game, what answer do you expect to get? If, taking that one step further, you call them and say you saw a poster saying the release date is Feb 1st, and asking them to confirm, and they look and the only source of information they have regarding it lists that date, what answer do you expect? As others have already indicated, every retailer lists a “shot in the dark” release date on their website, so that people who are pre-ordering have an idea of Roughly how long someone has to wait before the game comes out. For the last released info indicating that, following being unable to release Q4 2011 Blizzard is shooting for a Q1 2012 release, feb 1st is neither a deliberately deceptive nor unreasonable best guess.

3) How is it that we have “confirmation” of this sign at BBY Canada despite BBY Canada’s website clearly indicating a feb 28th release date (another best guess)? And why no photo?